How Not to Be

Homily for the Memorial of the Passion of John the Baptist

Although Roman society was hardly one to hide its brutality, the manner and circumstances of the death of John the Baptist seem to go beyond inhumane.

Herod seemed to have some level of respect for John, but when faced with the possibility of public embarrassment, he disregarded this instinct and had him executed. He feared the loss of his reputation more than he feared the loss of the good will of God. What a terrible misalignment of something temporal against something eternal! In his official and abrupt way of showing his opposition to God and revealing his sinful pride, he foreshadowed that which Jesus would face as John’s death prefigures the death of Jesus, which also goes beyond inhumane.

Perhaps Herod’s greatest attribute is that he serves as the perfect foil for “how not to be.” Granted, his example is in the extreme, but given that God’s will for us is holiness, says St. Paul, anything that resembles Herod’s actions in degree or kind puts us in opposition to God’s truth. As we read in today’s excerpt from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, “God did not call us to impurity but to holiness.”

Our call to holiness begins in baptism and is nurtured in the sacramental life of the Church. We cannot attain holiness on our own, but we can pursue it and, with God’s grace and mercy, increase in it through prayer, sacrifice, and charitable works of mercy. None of this is news for us, just a reiteration of the Good News. It goes without saying that our celebration of the Eucharist leads us to such holiness.